TeenyBites for everyone!

I’m currently in the process of mentally preparing myself for this weekend. You see, this weekend is the triplets’ birthday party. Therefore, I have three birthday cakes to make. The girls wanted princess cakes and the little boy wanted a “Bass Pro” cake. What does that even mean? A “Bass Pro” cake? I told him I wasn’t sure whether I could pull that one off and asked him if a Lightning McQueen cake would suffice. He said it would and then asked if I could put something “Bass Pro” on it too. I quickly realized that I had to figure out a way to make this little booger a “Bass Pro” cake.

And, I did! I was so excited that I had figured out a way to make this cake that I wanted to call and tell him. Here’s how our conversation went:

Triplet: “Hey Miss.”

Me: “Hey buddy. Guess what?!”

Triplet: “What?”

Me: “I figured out a way to make you a Bass Pro cake!”

Triplet: “Ok.”

Me: “Well would you rather have a Bass Pro cake or a Lightning McQueen cake?”

Triplet: “It doesn’t matter. Either one. Hey Miss…did you ummm…did you ummm…did you buy us a present?”

Me: “Of course I bought you a present. What do you think it is?”

Triplet: “I don’t know.”

Indulge me a little, kid! I stress about making this kid a “Bass Pro” cake, and he couldn’t care less now. He asks me for a specific birthday present, and now has no idea what he’s getting from me. My goodness!

And to top this weekend off, I have one more cake to make! PeeWee decided to have the triplets’ older brother’s birthday party with theirs. Turd was very specific about what kind of cake he wants. Lucky for me, his will be the easiest!

I went to my second cake decorating class last night. It was a mess. First, my crumb coat didn’t set, so I had crumbs in my top layer of icing. Second, the technique we used last night was new to me. Let’s just say I need to practice…a lot. I’m not used to making unsightly cakes. I’m so disappointed in my cake that I refuse to post a picture of it.

Ok, I forgot to take a picture of it.

I took it to a friend as soon as I got out of class.

I didn’t want to look at it anymore.

One good thing did come out of cake class…

I baked two 8-inch cakes and only needed one of them for class. Therefore, I crumpled the other one up, added some vanilla icing, and rolled that gooey mess into little balls. Tonight, I will dip them in chocolate. Tomorrow, I will have pictures, and Whitney should have teenybites!

As an amateur cake decorator, I am always trying to prove to myself that I can do something. I’ll see a cute cake and think, Hey, I can do that. So then I try. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. I had one of those “Hey, I can do that” moments last Thanksgiving. I wanted to make something for our family Thanksgiving dinner. Since I hate to cook, this thing that I was going to make had to be a dessert. So, I googled “turkey cakes”. I found an adorable 3D turkey cake that did not require my having a turkey baking pan. I just needed two Pyrex bowls, which I had. Forever and a day later, I finally finished the cake. This is what it looked like…

I took this cake to work and made another one for our family Thanksgiving dinner. The one for my family actually looked better. However, I forgot to take pictures of it. Sad day.

So I went to my cake decorating class last night…and LOVED it! I had so much fun. Our class is rather small, so that makes it a little more fun. All of the ladies in the class are really nice and the instructor is awesome! The instructor told us that we would be making wedding cakes by the end of the class. I don’t know about all of that! I think I will just stick to my teenybites! Last night was basically just going through supplies and then the instructor gave us a DELICIOUS recipe for buttercream icing. I am convinced that there is no icing in the world better than this. It has TWO POUNDS of powdered sugar in it. Yeah. Told you. I’ll post the recipe later. I think it’s an old Wilton recipe. However, they have since changed the recipe. The old one is SO much better than the new one. Words can’t really describe the difference in taste between the two recipes.

As for supplies for the class, we were required to purchase a Wilton Decorating Basics Student Kit.

It comes with all kinds of stuff. This was $34.99 (I think) at Michaels. I had a 50% off coupon though! I love saving money while spending it! I will still have to purchase a few more things for next week’s class, but I have more 50% off coupons in my wallet!

I’ve always liked to bake and make treats. I’ve been baking cookies and brownies for as long as I can remember. As soon as I became old enough to mix, pour, etc. without burning myself, breaking bowls, or making a complete mess, my mom stopped making treats for me. I then had to make them for her! She did, however, help me out this weekend and baked a batch of brownies for me.

Thanks mom!

Anyhow, as I mentioned in the previous post, I have triplets…sort of. They’re mine for all intensive purposes. I just don’t provide for, feed, or nurture them. Ok, so maybe they aren’t mine. Oh well. I was their “nanny” for the first three years of their life. Their mother (one of my dear friends) and I joked about who would have custody of the triplets when they moved an hour away from me. She won. But I still go kidnap them whenever I want.

I made the cakes for the triplets fourth birthday. They were absolutely darling…the triplets and the cakes. See…

I loved making these for my youngens. They were really excited about them, too. I have been making cakes ever since.

I am actually making the cakes for their birthday party this year, as well. My “babies” are now six-years-old! How do you make them stop growing? Or forming opinions? Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Anyhow, it wasn’t until recently that I began making my teenybites. They have been a huge success. The idea came from Bakerella. I’m sure you’ve all heard about her by now. She has a new book out called Cake Pops and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy! I also got ideas from Pizzazzerie. Another super cute website. Be sure to check it out.

So, these two websites have inspired me to be more creative with my baking. However, my inspiration to sale my teenybites came from the triplets’ mom. We’ll call her PeeWee. PeeWee has, from the day I first met her, been behind me and encouraging me. She’s another mother figure in my life. Don’t get me wrong, my mom rocks and I don’t know where I would be without her. It’s just that PeeWee has been so much more than a friend is expected to be. I mean really, she lets me steal her kids – my kids – whenever I want.

By the way, just yesterday, one of the triplets called me (she texts too, but yesterday I got a phone call). The conversation went a little like this…

Me: “Hello?”

Triplet: “Hey Miss. I got to cheer for the high school football team during the first quarter!”

Then I hear PeeWee laughing uncontrollably in the background. No one tells this kid to say such things. She just tells you whatever she is thinking…which is A LOT.

As for my mom, I really can’t describe how wonderful this woman is. She is my mother and my best friend. If it weren’t for her and her money, I wouldn’t have been able to make any of my cakes, treats, etc. (or anything else, for that matter) to begin with. So, thanks Mama! Oh, and my youngens love her. They call her Nanny Granny, thanks to PeeWee. She was not too fond of the name at first, and she even tried to get them to just call her Nanny. Needless to say, Nanny didn’t work out and she will forever be Nanny Granny. And she is just fine with that.